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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22412392">Trouble For Later</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/GretchenSinister/pseuds/GretchenSinister'>GretchenSinister</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Rise of the Guardians (2012)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Human, M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 14:40:39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>924</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22412392</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/GretchenSinister/pseuds/GretchenSinister</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Original Prompt: "Jack is a student who’s taken a sabbatical year to hitchhike around Australia. Bunnymund’s the hot farmhand he comes across in a pub. Sex, naturally, ensues.</p><p>Take this wherever you want from there, anon, but I’d like them to end up in a real relationship, even when Jack has to go home and the distance is huge."</p><p>I was so vague with this AU setting, but that’s as it is. My fill shows the morning after and negotiations/conversations during.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>E. Aster Bunnymund/Jack Frost</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>JackRabbit Short Fics</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Trouble For Later</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Originally posted on Tumblr on 8/19/2016.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p></p><div class="text post-content">
  <p>Bunny pushed himself up on his elbow to get a better look at Jack. He was sleeping peacefully, his lips parted ever so slightly, one arm shoved under his pillow above his head, the other draped across his stomach. His legs were sprawled under the blanket, which he didn’t really seem inclined to use, even though it was winter. But, of course, winters were a lot more intense where Jack came from.<br/><br/>And in this morning, while he was still asleep, he was still absolutely beautiful, from his messy bleached hair to the toes sticking out from the blanket. Bunny smiled, realized he was doing so, and felt worry hook into his stomach. Oh, he shouldn’t have taken Jack home. It had been a long, long time since he had taken anybody home, and there was a good reason for that. Either he regretted it from start to finish in the light of day, or…or he ended up wanting them to stay.<br/><br/>He didn’t regret anything about last night, with Jack. He regretted now that it meant he was going to see Jack leave in a few hours, at most.<br/><br/>“I just can’t learn my lesson, can I?” he said to himself. “Least you’re a city boy, and you’ll sleep late.” He shook his head, and picked up the phone to call in sick. It had been a long time since he’d done that, too. But they could deal without him until whenever Jack had to go.<br/><br/>The only disappointing thing about doing that, though, was that they wouldn’t get to share the big ranch breakfast.<br/><br/>“Well, let’s see if I can manage something worth waking up for,” Bunny said, carefully getting out of bed and heading toward his mini fridge.<br/><br/></p>
  <hr/>
  <p><br/><br/>“This is so good,” Jack said, shoveling scrambled eggs into his mouth while he sat on the edge of the bed, dressed only in his underwear.<br/><br/>“It’s just hot plate stuff,” Bunny said. “You slept right through the breakfast for the hands, and since you’re not one I don’t think I would’ve been able to bring you there anyway.”<br/><br/>Jack shrugged. “Don’t think I’m missing anything—oh, shit. Are you missing work?”<br/><br/>“They’ll manage. Anyway, what did you expect, that I was going to leave you in my room to get into trouble all day?”<br/><br/>Jack grinned. “I’m so glad you’ve recognized me as a troublemaker even after such a, hmm, brief acquaintance.”<br/><br/>“It’s not that hard to figure out,” said Bunny, smiling a little in spite of himself. “Look,” he went on, more seriously, “I know you’re just starting your year of backpacking, and that the town here doesn’t have a whole lot to offer. So I can…I can drive you to the next one—it’s not much bigger, but at least it’ll keep you on your journey, yeah?”<br/><br/>“I don’t know about this town not having much to offer,” Jack said. He grinned over at Bunny. “After all, it had you.”<br/><br/>Bunny scoffed and went to scrape the remains of his breakfast into the trash. “So that’s the kind of trip you planned, is it? You’d better start being a lot more careful.”<br/><br/>“What? Aw, no, that’s not what I meant, I mean, I just happened to be lucky when I met you, I—ah, forget it. If you’re going to help me move along I guess I should take that offer.”<br/><br/>“You didn’t come to this place to stay, I know that,” Bunny said. “I can’t get—well, look. You go take a shower, since we’re going to be stuck in a car together for a few hours till we get anywhere that’s more than a bump on the road.”<br/><br/>“You’re willing to drive a few hours out of your way just to get rid of me?”<br/><br/>“What? Look, you <em>told</em> me you were moving on, and I’m trying to help you. I’m trying—” Bunny shook his head. “I don’t want to get rid of you, all right? But you told me what you want, and I heard you just fine last night, and anything else is on me.”<br/><br/>“What if I—” Jack began, and Bunny held up a hand to stop him.<br/><br/>“This is supposed to be your backpacking year. It’s not supposed to be complicated. If we were in a city we wouldn’t even be having this kind of conversation. Unless you were going to suggest a way you could make your own way to the next town, in which case I just made an ass of myself.”<br/><br/>“That wasn’t what I was going to suggest,” Jack said, with a grin that looked a lot like a grimace. “Yeah. I. Okay, you’re right. You probably should take me to the next town. I mean…yeah. If you think it won’t be a problem spending a few more hours with me in a car. Who knows, maybe you won’t like me at all when we’re not immediately about to bang.”<br/><br/>“Too late; I like you just fine right now,” Bunny said, sounding far more serious than the words warranted.<br/><br/>“That doesn’t prove anything,” Jack said, a smile pulling up one of the corners of his mouth. “I was just about to ask if you wanted to join me in the shower.”<br/><br/>“More to my trouble, I do,” Bunny said.<br/><br/>“Well, whatever trouble it is, it’s at least a few hours away for us, right?”<br/><br/>“Suppose you are right about that. All right, well. Let’s go use up all the hot water. The trouble can wait till later.”</p>
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  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Comments from Tumblr:</p><p>bowlingforgerbils said: awww, this was sweet!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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